The i's have it

I've like i, the Independent's concise, cheaper, and better younger brother, ever since it appeared.  It has now started to publish on a Saturday too, so hopefully that means it's doing well and will survive.

I've found something else to like about recently, and that's the 'Letter from the editor', Simon Kelner, that appears on page three.  On Friday he devoted it to some complaints that he'd received about the paper's coverage of the funeral of Olympic diver Tom Daley's father.  In its coverage the paper showed a picture of the funeral, and a number of readers asked whether that was truly necessary.

Kelner concluded that there hadn't been a need to do it - an editor listening to his readers and acting upon their suggestions?  He's clearly not cut out for the job!  He went on to make the distinction between the recent situation when they used pictures of Sir Henry Cooper's funeral: Cooper was a public figure and there was public interest, whereas Daley's father was not a public figure.  As Kelner put it, "The funeral of a national figure is a news event in its own right, but this was not that - it was the funeral of the father of a national figure".

Kelner concludes that the coverage that i gave the event was possibly 'prurient' and 'intrusive' - well done him for having the courage to admit that, and for telling his readers that in similar circumstances in the future, the paper will err on the side of caution.  Oh that other editors of nationals were half as brave and sensible.